The couple married 57 years ago and since they  moved in  the staff at Laura Johnson has observed their devotion to one another and their unwillingness to be separated.

Mr and Mrs Ormonde shared their life story over a cup of tea at the home; including the time they met, the challenges they faced, and why they believed they stayed together for so long. ‘‘John had no patience whatsoever, but I had enough for the two of us,” Mrs Ormonde said, and her husband quietly agreed. Mrs Ormonde learnt about respect from her upbringing in Camooweal, and patience and love from her Methodist missionary Reverend Ellis Bramley, and these were virtues she  eventually  passed to her husband.

Reverend Bramley frequently prayed by her bed when she was badly burnt as a seven-year-old. It was a defining moment in Mrs Ormonde’s life when she caught on fire while standing beside a closed wood stove in Camooweal about 70 years ago. 

“The fire went through the door, it caught my dress, all I had left was the top of my sleeves and the collar around my neck,” Mrs Ormonde said. 

“I was burnt all over my stomach, all over the whole of my right side.” 

She was rushed to the Mount Isa hospital  by her future employer, Joe Freckleton. 

Skin was grafted from both of her legs to heal the burns, an operation by a Doctor Ryan which likely saved her life. 

“I never got to see him again, I wish I had because I wanted to thank him for what he did for me.” 

And almost a decade later Mrs Ormonde met her future husband while she worked at the Freckleton Store. 

He was a surveyor employed to develop the Burketown to Camooweal Road, and when he could no longer be in Camooweal he quit and eventually did the mail run. 

Mrs Ormonde noted his fondness for tailor-made clothes when he first walked into the store. 

“He looked so handsome,” Mrs Ormonde said with a smile.

“I remember thinking, ‘oh my goodness, he’s the man of my life, I’ll marry this man’.” 

He was a regular customer and often bought comics. 

“Mrs Freckleton said to John, ‘you bought that comic yesterday’,’’ Mrs Ormonde said, and her husband no longer denied this fact. 

 “I was there to see Edna, I couldn’t care less about the comic,” Mr Ormonde said.

 Mr Ormonde bought a gramophone to find a more subtle excuse to visit.   

“They never sold records when I first went there. I bought 100 records over that time,” he said. 

 The locals warned Mr Ormonde to be careful about dating Edna. 

“They asked ‘are you keeping company with Jack Dalley’s daughter? You’re taking a big risk’.’’

It was a risk because Jack Dalley was considered one of the best riflemen in World War I. 

Fortunately Mr Dalley became fond of Mr Ormonde, and the couple married at the Methodist Church in Charters Towers at 7pm, Saturday, August 24. 

The Ormondes were well suited to one another and cannot recall ever having a serious argument, even when grieving for their oldest daughter Lorriane – who died at 15 in tragic circumstances.

They had three children: Lorriane Edna, John Henry and Kevin Lionel, and now have 10 grandchildren. 

Their only great-grandchild, Florence May, is visiting from Canada with her mother Lorretta – a former North West Star photographer.